The rest of their first week passed by quickly. Harry and Hermione learned that their studious natures were uncommon in the "House of the Brave," and almost unwelcome. Due to their focus on academia, they had made few friends. Ron and Neville, on the other hand, were much more popular, at least when Neville came out of his shell, and they led a variety of common room games for the third years and below, even starting a betting pool on those games, which Percy almost immediately broke up.
Though she was still having trouble with wandless casting, Hermione quickly mastered mage sight, and was delighted to see all the many colors of people's magic. She was surprised to see that Harry glowed brighter than even most of the seventh year students. Harry was quick to assure her that her brightness was on par with fifth years, and this must be why Eamon thought the pair could become archmages themselves. The pair told each other what their colors were, since they couldn't see their own colors.
Harry was a deep shade of blue that Hermione called cobalt, and Hermione was a bright red. They noted that when they used mage sight, the magic glow from their eyes were close matches to the shade of their magic, but tilted in the direction of their natural eye shade.
When the pair went back to Eamon that Saturday, he was quick to congratulate Hermione on successfully using mage sight, and introduced them to a charm he thought they'd find useful, the summoning charm. He demonstrated the spell, only once as was his custom, and he watched as the two kids copied him, one with her tongue slightly stuck out and the other with his nose screwed up as they focused on their magic.
Hermione got the spell first, after five failed tries and two partially successful tries, but Harry got it only a minute later, after two failed tries and seven partial successes. They practiced to be able to cast it consistently, then after a while Eamon told them to try it without wands. He frowned when neither could get even a partial success, but he assured them that this spell was above their level anyways, so just casting it with a wand was good enough - for now.
He sent them on their way, with an instruction to go outside and enjoy the day.
A month of classes passed this way, with Harry and Hermione at or near the top in almost every class. Though Snape still glared at Harry, accusing him of cheating on a near daily basis, and marking down his essays for insane reasons until Harry went to McGonagall to get a resolution to that. After seeing his essays and the grades they received, she went and talked to the man. The students never learned what she said, but Harry was given more accurate grades after that.
Finally, after almost two months, the teachers finally started the practical portions of their classes. Harry and Hermione were the first to get their spells right, in every class, though they did have the advantage of having already practiced practical magic. Harry was faster than Hermione at transfiguration and jinxes, but Hermione was faster at charms.
It was a Saturday near the end of October when Eamon demonstrated a shield charm for Harry and Hermione. The two quickly got the spell down, and even got it wandlessly, within an hour. Eamon shifted gears and began lecturing them on Transfiguration theory.
"So, you've learned that most every transfiguration spell isn't permanent. Have you figured out why?" He asked, a smirk on his face.
Hermione and Harry assumed their normal 'thinking' expressions. Hermione noted, "You can change something into anything else, and the mana you spend on the spell determines how long it stays changed."
"Right! But why?" Eamon inquired.
Harry guessed, "Things are made of atoms. So a transfiguration spell makes atoms misbehave, and they don't like to, so eventually they start acting like themselves?"
"Very good! Most transfiguration spells change the very atoms at the core of an item, and they will return to normal. When the substance or mass of the transfigured item changes, the item will eventually revert when the change is no longer powered."
Hermione realized what he was implying first. "Wait! You mean that if I change something into something else that has the exact same atoms and the same number of them, it will stay?"
Eamon grinned. "Exactly! So, you could turn a lump of coal into a diamond, and as long as it's done perfectly, it will stay as a diamond. You could turn raw gold into a pile of Galleons. So long as it's done exactly, it will stay, because there's no magical stress on the atoms."
Harry asked, "Magical stress? Do you mean how magic can break the normal laws of physics?"
"Yes! Magic is a force like the others, but it supercedes them. It is first and foremost, so it ignores the other laws. Those other laws, however, act like friction. They oppose the magical force. Just like friction stops a moving block unless you keep pushing it, you have to keep 'pushing' the magic, or magic stress will revert the magic." Eamon grinned. "If you use magic to perform an action that does not violate mundane physics, then the magic does not cause stress, and, as a result, it is easier to cast - and permanent."
Harry and Hermione grinned back at Eamon, caught up in his infectious enthusiasm. Eamon set them up with a block of wood, and asked them to transfigure it into anything else. It just had to be permanent.
After a minute of debating how to go about it, the students decided to just try. They poured their mana (and will) out, using their wands for ease, and when their mana touched, they both felt a jolt of... something. They quickly turned the wood into a small sculpture of a dolphin, and pulled their mana back. Harry felt elated at that contact; it felt like nothing else he'd ever experienced - intimate.
He started to blush as he realized something - he liked Hermione. He avoided her eyes, and barely noticed as the dolphin returned to being a block of wood. He did notice when Eamon frowned, and instructed them to try again, with a reminder not to add mass to the block. Harry hesitated, out of fear that touching their mana again would make Hermione realize what Harry had just realized, but he was Eamon's apprentice, so he followed Eamon's order.
When the two touched their magic together this time, they were prepared for the feeling, and they knew what they wanted to do. They quickly shaped the wood into a crude sculpture in the likeness of a teacher and two students. Harry felt like they hadn't used all the mass of the wood, so he added just a bit to the base. The two pulled back, their magic and wills no longer touching.
Eamon was smirking at something, and Harry thought that Eamon had discovered Harry's thoughts, but Eamon just praised them for getting it right this time, and sent them off. Neither student noticed that Eamon set that sculpture on his desk with a small smile.
On Halloween, Harry and his three friends had their final broom flying lesson. Neville got hurt when Hermione accidentally knocked him off his broom. The two were awkward flyers at best, and had collided twenty feet in the air. Neville hit the ground with a sickening crack, and Harry winced as he helped stabilize Hermione. When the two landed safely, with Neville being escorted off to the Medical Wing by Madam Hooch, Ron decided to shout at Hermione, blaming her for Neville's injury.
Harry stepped in on Hermione's behalf, saying it was an accident. After all, not everybody could fly as well as Ron and Harry did. Ron was red-faced from his anger, and he tried to punch Harry, but Harry had plenty of practice dodging fists. He dodged a second punch. "Ron, I swear, if you try to hit me again, our friendship is over forever," he growled, and snapped up a shield charm, forgetting to pull his wand.
The display of wandless magic got the attention of most of the class, and even took the wind out of Ron's sails.
"Five points from Gryffindor and detention, Mister Weasley, for that abominable display," came the angry voice of McGonagall from behind Harry. "Fifty points to you, Mister Potter, for your well cast spell and refusal to hurt your friend. Mister Weasley, go to the Hospital Wing and give Madam Pomfrey a hand in getting Mister Longbottom back to good condition. That will qualify as your detention."
Ron grumbled and walked off, and McGonagall dismiss the class, ushering them back into the castle. She pulled Harry aside and invited him to try out for Quidditch, since Hooch had been nothing but complimentary about his flying. She then sent him on his way.
Harry quickly walked over to Hermione, who had tears in her eyes. They went to one of the abandoned classrooms on the first floor, and Harry silenced the door with a spell Hermione had found a few days before. "Are you alright?" He asked softly, pulling her into a gentle hug, to which she responded by giving him her standard rock crushing, rib breaking hug.
"Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine. Ron was right, Neville getting hurt was my fault."
"It was an accident," Harry tried to soothe her. "And he'll be just fine. Magic heals broken bones quite easily." Hermione nodded slowly. "If it makes you feel better, we can get Eamon to teach us healing broken bones on Saturday."
As a response, Hermione hugged Harry again, who secretly delighted in the physical contact. The two sat side by side, just barely touching, practicing several spells, both with and without their wands. Finally, Harry sighed, and asked in a whisper. "Can I tell you something?"
Hermione bolted up, midway through an idle wandless levitation charm, dropping the chair she had been moving. She smiled and asked, "What's on your mind?"
Harry never got a chance to answer that question.
A loud roar echoed through the halls, and both students leapt to their feet, wands at the ready. Loud footsteps smashed against the floor, shaking the walls, then a giant beast smashed through the walls. Harry threw up his second shield charm of the day, managing to deflect most of the debris. One large chunk of stone smashed his shield, but Hermione grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him to the side, out of the way.
They finally got a good look at the monster, which had gray-green leathery skin, stood nearly fourteen feet tall, and had a massive club in its left hand. It roared at the two kids, and Harry gulped. "It's a troll. And, trolls eat humans," he whispered nervously to Hermione.
"Can we use the disarm spell on the club?" She asked, squeezing his hand.
"We can try. Let's work together, like we did that time last week," Harry said. The two yelled, "Expelliarmus!" Their magic combined, their wills touched, and they managed to make the troll stumble back a foot or two. It dropped the club, and it roared in anger as the two students stood courageously against a beast nearly four times their height. They didn't notice their magic pulsing, still in contact, as they magically grabbed the troll's club and threw it at the troll.
The troll was knocked into the wall with so much force that it shook the ground. That distraction was enough to break Harry's and Hermione's magical connection, and both sagged, suddenly tired, still holding onto the other's hand. A few shouts, human, thankfully, came from down the hall, and to Harry's surprise, Ron and Neville both came running from down the hall. They dashed over to the other two members of their quartet, and the troll clambered to its feet, enraged. It grabbed for its club, but Harry summoned it with a desperate "Accio!"
The club didn't move very far, but it was far enough that the troll couldn't grab it. Hermione stood straight and desperately asked the boys to help her beat the troll with its own club. The troll roared again, and the four first year students, armed only with a handful of charms, levitated the club of the troll, and moved it around as quickly as they could, hitting the beast around the head several times. It snatched the club out of the air after a handful of hits, and staggered around for a moment, before focusing on the kids.
Thankfully, they had done enough to keep it at bay, and four professors and the headmaster were able to knock it out with five simultaneous cries of "Stupefy!" As the troll fell to the ground one last time, the four students finally were able to relax. Ron pointed out that Harry and Hermione were holding hands, and though Harry blushed, he didn't let go, not even as the four House heads and the Headmaster himself turned around.
McGonagall was the first to speak. "Fifty points from Gryffindor - for each of you! We ordered all students to go to their common rooms! Why in Merlin's name would you go looking for it?!?"
Harry spoke up. "Hermione and I have been here since you dismissed the flying class. We were practicing magic. We had no idea that anything was going on, until it found us."
McGonagall looked pointedly at the two students holding hands, then looked at their faces, arching an eyebrow. She didn't say anything, however, simply looked at Ron and Neville.
Neville spoke up, "W- we had j- j- just started our dinner when Pro- f- fessor Qu- Quirrel yelled about the -" he gestured to the troll. "We kn- knew these two d- d- didn't know. We wanted to find them."
Dumbledore spoke up. "I'm reversing Minerva's point taking for Mister Potter and Miss Granger, though, in the future, make sure a Professor can always find you. As for Misters Weasley and Longbottom, I award you each twenty five points for standing by your friends. Your point loss still stands, however, so you have still lost twenty five points each."
Snape spoke up, somewhat sullenly. "I think a detention for the four is in order."
Dumbledore shook his head. "No, I think nearly getting killed by a troll is punishment enough. Any further reckless stunts will get you punished, though," he added as an after thought. "Minerva, please escort them to their common room."
A few hours later, Harry and Hermione were the last two people in the Gryffindor common room. Both were too amped up by the brush with death earlier to go to sleep, so they'd been trying to do homework. They weren't any better at that, so they put it all away, and tried to calm down by staring at the fire.
Hermione looked at Harry. "Hey, what were you going to say earlier?" She asked, a small smile on her face.
Harry jumped in surprise at hearing her voice after their pleasantly silent half hour of fire watching, but he calmed himself. He opened his mouth to speak then shut it. He tried to figure out how to phrase it, then decided to just go for it, in true Gryffindor fashion. "I wanted to say that... I like you," he said lamely.
He couldn't bring himself to look at her out of his embarrassment, so he was surprised when she tackled him to the side with a hug. He looked at her, and both started grinning. She finally said, "Good. Cause, I like you too."
The next few months passed in similar fashion. Harry and Hermione stayed at the top of their classes, studied under Eamon, and found a little time here and there to just spend time together, both with their other two friends and alone. It was on the last day of their fall term, December the fourteenth, that the two shared a chaste first kiss, as Hermione was about to leave the castle until the New Year.
Neville has also left the castle, along with almost every other Gryffindor. Fred, George, and Ron had all decided to stick around, however, so Harry enjoyed their company as best as he was able, but he spent most of his time going through the Library. The Librarian apparently took a liking to Harry, because she set out a stack of books she thought he'd like.
He made a point to make at least a short visit to Eamon every day. Meanwhile, he also bought a present for each of his friends, and he bought one for Eamon too, a plush dragon toy.
Finally, Christmas came. Ron woke Harry up by throwing a pillow through Harry's curtains. Ron snickered until the reflexive "Expelliarmus" sent him staggering. After the two realized what had happened, they shared a nice laugh about it, then set to opening presents.
Ron opened Harry's gift first, which turned out to be a Quidditch jersey for Ron's favorite team, the Chudley Cannons. It was a little large for Ron, but he still threw it on immediately. Ron handed Harry his gift, a small case of chocolates. Harry thanked Ron profusely - though he wasn't much of a sweets person himself - and offered to share. He knew the other boy was poor and couldn't afford more 'spectacular' gifts, so he didn't kick up a fuss about it, especially considering that it was his first real Christmas gift anyways.
Next up on Harry's pile was a gift from Neville, a book about common and rare magical plants and their uses. He hoped that Neville enjoyed the gardening kit Harry sent him.
Harry opened a lumpy package, revealing a handmade sweater, solid blue, and a worn book on household charms. Ron interjected, saying that the sweater was from his mother, and that he had no idea she intended to send Harry a gift. He was embarrassed, probably worried that Harry would take offense at getting a gift from the mother of one of his friends.
Harry just smiled, and while he appreciated the book more than the sweater, he pulled the sweater on, thrilled to discover it had been enchanted with a warming charm. "Remind me to write your mum with a thank you note," he told Ron, who sighed in relief.
Harry opened his last gift: from Hermione's parents, a science textbook for high school chemistry students. There was a letter attached to the book cover, which Harry opened.
To Harry James Potter:
We were thrilled to learn that our daughter Hermione had finally made some good friends. We were even more thrilled when she told us that she got a boyfriend. (A hastily scrawled note in the margins indicated that her father was less than thrilled, actually.)
Since you enjoy learning just as much as our Hermione, we decided this would be the best gift for you.
We hope we can see you during the summer and get to know the boy our daughter has fallen for.
Merry Christmas, Emma and Dan Granger
Harry smiled. At least it seemed like he had made a decent impression on Hermione's parents - even her father's quick note didn't seem to be in real hostility. He smiled at the thoughtful gift, and set it with the other two books he'd been given.
He stood up, stretched, and was about to go take his morning shower when Ron said, "Hey wait! You have another present!"
Harry stopped in surprise. He turned around, and sure enough, there was a gift that had been just out of sight from where he had just been. He opened it quickly, and pulled out a long piece of fabric that looked like a hooded cloak for large adults, or a blanket for small kids like himself. A note fluttered to the floor. He tore it open and read, "This Cloak belonged to your father, James Potter. Put it to good use." There was no signature on it.
Harry looked at it in confusion, first with normal sight, then with mage sight. He was startled to see it light up in a bright light. Whatever it was, it was very magical.
He threw it around himself like a blanket on a cold morning, and everything below his neck became invisible. "Wicked!" Ron gasped. "An Invisibility Cloak!"
Harry grinned. "The note said it was my dad's," he said, imagining the antics his father had probably gotten up to using this Cloak.
A few nights later, Harry decided it would be fun to do a little bit of rule breaking. After all, the note had said to put it to good use. After a bit of thinking it over, he thought he'd go browse the Restricted Section of the Library. He didn't know of anything in particular he wanted to find out, but he was sure he'd find something interesting there.
He snuck out of the common room under the too-large cloak, and walked as quickly as he could to get to the Library. He went back to the Restricted Section, finding it locked. He cast a quiet "Alohamora," and the lock screamed. 'Oops,' he thought, as he quickly ran up close to the Library door. The door opened, and an irate Madam Pince came in, looking prepared to deal divine justice to whomever woke her up.
Harry dodged around her, escaping the Library. He quickly made his way towards the common room, but Filch's cat showed up, yowling for her master. Harry quickly ran the other way, and was startled to discover more problems. Professors Quirrel and Snape, perhaps his two least favorite.
They were talking animatedly, or rather... arguing quietly. "I need the stone," Quirrel urged, his stutter noticably absent.
"I told you the key to my puzzle," Snape drawled. "I can't get you past the other defenses. As I've told you several times. You can invoke him as much as you want, I can't give you a key I don't have."
"He will kill both of us, you fool!"
Snape sighed. "As much as I doubt that, fine. I will lend you what aid I can. Do not expect a miracle," he snarled. He turned and stalked away.
Quirrel went the other direction, leaving a thoroughly confused Harry in the hallway.
Filch's cat came around the corner, and started yowling again, so Harry darted off. He ducked into an open door, closing it behind himself and using that silencing charm. He sighed, and threw off his Cloak. He sat down to catch his breath, and he noticed a mirror. He clicked his fingers to create a ball of light, and saw the mirror had an inscription at the top. Read the normal way, it made no sense, but backwards it read, "I show not your face, but your heart's desire."
Harry laughed at that, and he stepped forward to see the mirror clearly. "Huh, I guess you do show my heart's desire. How do you work?"
"What do you see, Harry?" Dumbledore's amused voice came from behind Harry, and Harry groaned.
"The one and only time I break the rules," he huffed as he faced the Headmaster. "Sorry, Headmaster, I got an Invisibility Cloak for Christmas, and I figured I wasn't going to get too much use out of it, so I just wanted to have one adventure. Just once. I swear I won't do it again."
"So, what did you see?" Dumbledore prodded gently.
"Hm? Oh, it just shows me, older, with a lot of books, studying something odd alongside Hermione. Nothing too fantastic, I suppose," Harry shrugged. "Right now, I want to study that mirror."
Dumbledore laughed, though he cooled down only moments later. "It's for the best that you don't, Harry. It has a way of entrapping minds. I brought it here for safekeeping, alongside a few other relics."
That made Harry perk up. "Is one of those relics a stone? I just heard Professors Quirrel and Snape talking about one. Professor Quirrel really wants it for some reason, and Professor Snape said he'd help, though it didn't sound like he wanted to."
Dumbledore paused, and looked at Harry oddly, before pulling his eyes away. "Thank you, Harry. For that insight, I'll not dock you points or give you a detention, but don't roam the halls at night... no matter how tempting the Restricted Section is."
Harry hung his head. "Yes, sir."
"Now, off to bed. Sleep is important for growing children, Harry." Dumbledore shooed Harry away.
It was January the fourth when the students who left the castle for Christmas came back. Harry waited anxiously for Hermione, his gift for her in his hands. He had no idea what to get for her, so he'd made her a scarf (with much difficulty) and sent it to a professional enchanter to make it permanently warm, and he was worried about whether she would like it.
The students trickled in, slowly at first, then quickly. Among the rush, Hermione pushed her way out of the crowd and hugged Harry tightly. The two kissed, a quick peck on the lips, but some of the older students whistled teasingly. Harry ignored them as best as he could, but he was blushing. He could tell Hermione was too, but it didn't really show on her darker skin.
To stave that off, he quickly handed her his gift. "I hope you like it, I made it myself," he said.
She opened the gift, and saw a scarf. She immediately threw it around her neck with a smile, then she put her trunk on the ground, and opened it. She pulled out an unwrapped book, and handed it to Harry, still smiling. As Harry opened it, she kicked her trunk closed and picked it back up.
Harry saw the book was empty, and realized immediately. "Oh! You got me a journal!" He exclaimed. "This will be perfect when we start our own magical experiments like Eamon has been saying."
Hermione nodded along, happily, as Harry pulled her into a hug, then kissed her again. He took her hand and the two walked back to the common room, while they swapped their holiday stories.
A/N: I made a couple oopsies on the first publication of this chapter, so I went back and fixed them. Turns out, writing 4k words in day is going to leave you with a couple mistakes. Who knew?